Rhine water levels 2016 and similar topics

[Riversanddale]

As always, terrific information from notamermaid (still sending good thoughts for your computer) and those of you sailing now. We have a week to go so are watching closely and often.

 

Thanks for the info on the holiday. We got caught by surprise on this on last 2012 trip and it looks like we'll be hit again. What a bummer - day lost in Vienna after so much work to avoid that. That isn't listed on any of the holiday charts I always check.

 

Terrific tips for Cologne. We'll try a few. We found the bicycle pedicabs with http://www.rikolonia.de/en/ They were arranged by our rivercruise last time but we are booking through their website this time. They have a good website in German and in English. They do tours, taxi-like service and more. They were a highlight of that original cruise and saved us on a day when DH wasn't up to the walking. This time we take them because they were so much fun!

[Jay23]

Good Morning,

 

Thank you notamermaid for the holiday information. We will be in Strasburg on 1st November. My husband says that so long as they serve food on the boat on that day, "no shopping" will not be a problem!! I will be looking out for the chocolates in Cologne.

 

My husband is looking forward to a wheelhouse visit and a chat to the Captain, Parrothead. Looks like we will get away with the low river levels, fingers crossed.

Not so sure about the pedicabs Riversanddale, perhaps we are a bit old for that, but it looks like fun.

 

This thread has been invaluable to a first timer like me. Many thanks everyone.

[notamermaid]

Hello Riversanddale,

 

that thing with those holidays is a little "complicated". In Germany, some of those days in some important tourist towns are exempt from "Sunday trading laws". To promote tourism some places are allowed to be open. In general train station shops are open as well, like Cologne (i.e. some shops in there, not sure which ones, there are lots). It can be quite annoying to find the tacky tourist shop being open and the lovely speciality shop next door being closed. :(

 

Those rickshaws look fun. I hope you have great time with them in Cologne. Which reminds me: last year in Koblenz I saw a rickshaw near the cruise ships on the Moselle. I talked to the gentleman a bit. He seemed a nice (and enterprising, of course) guy and told me he usually rides from the ships into town and back. I cannot remember prices.

 

Worms is at 59cm this morning, Koblenz at 76cm.

 

notamermaid

Edited October 11, 2016 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Just to keep this separate:

 

for further river cruisers next holiday coming up is Sunday of the Dead on 20 November (this year's date). Strangely this is not a public holiday by law but a "quiet day" for which certain trading and other restrictions apply on top of Sunday trading laws. Almost as complicated as the German tax system :(.

 

For you important to know is that if a Christmas market has started before that date it will in accordance with the above rule be closed on said 20th November. This applies to Germany only, I do not know what Switzerland, France or the Netherlands do on that day.

 

If you intend to book a river cruise for next year, do have a look at small prints in the itinerary and the timeanddate website for mention of such holidays.

 

notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Here is one for the boys (o.k. a few girls, too):

 

Koblenz has always played a major role in everything military (see: the Ehrenbreitstein fortress) and is still a major seat of the army. There is an unusual museum called Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung, with lots of stuff that will delight boys (and some girls): http://www.vffwts.de/en/about.html Just send your man there by local bus across the Moselle and head into town if you are not interested. ;) In town, the Mittelrhein Museum has some lovely paintings and the shopping centre "Forum" is right next to it.

 

notamermaid

[ParrotheadG]

Thank you ParrotheadG,

 

for the very valuable information. So, as it stands at the moment Viking is confident about making it through the Rhine gorge at a river gauge level at Koblenz of around 75cm. I am relieved to hear that. Going slowly, actually you will see the castles for longer then. The plus point of the situation. Have a great time in Cologne. I recommend the chocolates from Café Reichard (never tried the coffee there) just across from the Dom, address is Unter Fetthennen 11

 

 

 

Just leaving Cologne- fun time! We did stop at Cafe Reichard- you didn't mention the outstanding bathrooms! [emoji1]

 

 

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Edited October 11, 2016 by ParrotheadG

[Riversanddale]

Good Morning,

 

Thank you notamermaid for the holiday information. We will be in Strasburg on 1st November. My husband says that so long as they serve food on the boat on that day, "no shopping" will not be a problem!! I will be looking out for the chocolates in Cologne.

 

My husband is looking forward to a wheelhouse visit and a chat to the Captain, Parrothead. Looks like we will get away with the low river levels, fingers crossed.

Not so sure about the pedicabs Riversanddale, perhaps we are a bit old for that, but it looks like fun.

 

This thread has been invaluable to a first timer like me. Many thanks everyone.

 

Not to worry. They show lots of young folks in their photos so they won't think its just for "old folks." The driving is quite sedate, they stop as often as you like, they can give commentary if you like, and they make it all so easy. DH who can tire easily loves them. For those of us from the boat certainly they traveled at a pace so we could enjoy the sights and soak it in.

[Jay23]

Thanks Riversanddale.

We have a lovely day here today and I am expecting similar on our cruise ;)

[notamermaid]

Hello ParrotheadG,

 

I tend to go to Kaufhof Galeria department store for that. I had never seen the Café Reichard toilets. Wow, what a treat, I have looked at them online now, there are some photos online. They have an Asian theme and "intelligent" glass panels that go dark when you lock the door. They stay clear with full vision when you do not lock. :D

 

Oh, a tip for all future Cologne cruisers: avoid the railway station toilets if you can, at 1 euro they are very expensive.

 

notamermaid

[notamermaid]

There has been very little rain. As predicted the water levels have fallen further. Worms is now at 54cm, Koblenz is at 67cm.

 

The latest report of the federal hydrological institute is out, the title is "low water now also embraces the Rhine region"

 

The Rhine is very much in orange - indicating low water - downstream from the confluence with the Neckar.

 

A look into the further at the end of the report tells us that due to the fact that the weather pattern in Europe will not give much rain to our area over the next few days, the river levels will stagnate or slowly fall further.

 

But as we have heard, at the level right now Viking is still sailing which seems to suggest that all others are running as well. Fingers crossed the situation will stagnate this week and get better next week.

 

notamermaid

[Ontario Cruiser]

We are presently on Avalon Illumination and tomorrow we are only staying in Croatia until noon then leaving for Hungary because of low waters.

Ontario Cruiser

[CILCIANRQTS]

There has been very little rain. As predicted the water levels have fallen further. Worms is now at 54cm, Koblenz is at 67cm.

 

The latest report of the federal hydrological institute is out, the title is "low water now also embraces the Rhine region"

 

The Rhine is very much in orange - indicating low water - downstream from the confluence with the Neckar.

 

A look into the further at the end of the report tells us that due to the fact that the weather pattern in Europe will not give much rain to our area over the next few days, the river levels will stagnate or slowly fall further.

 

But as we have heard, at the level right now Viking is still sailing which seems to suggest that all others are running as well. Fingers crossed the situation will stagnate this week and get better next week.

 

notamermaid

 

Viking lists it's longship draft requirement as 1.6m, although some say 1.5 - 2.0 meters is the range.

Current level at Koblenz of 67cm is less than HALF these levels.

It sure seems like we'll be seeing bus tours if the level gets any lower. We're on the Rhine in 2 weeks.

Am I missing something???

Thanks.

[Begather]

Hello,

 

true to the saying "no news is good news" I have not fed this thread for almost a week. There is not anything of great significance for river cruisers to report. The weather is lovely, today it is going to be around 30 degrees where I live and up to 33 degrees in the warmest areas in the Upper Rhine valley. Thunderstorms are likely to follow during the night, that is the only drawback. Temperatures will fall to a moderate 24 to 26 degrees tomorrow (varying a bit whether you live in the valleys or in the hills).

 

The water level is excellent for sailing for most of the Rhine, meaning my rough estimate is for plain sailing throughout July. Hope I am right. The water is neither high nor low so that will give some room for rain and assure there is enough water to last the river and ships into August and - hopefully - September. Fingers crossed.

 

Here are some statistics.

 

The Rhine is 1238 kms long, making it the seventh longest river in Europe. The Volga is the longest. The Rhine flows through the four countries Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands. It carries water not only from those countries but also from Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Belgium coming from its tributaries and watershed system. The largest tributary is the Maas (Meuse). The river kilometre signs I have mentioned before line the banks of the Rhine, but you will not see a number beyond 1000, as the counting only starts in Konstanz with zero and ends in Rotterdam with 1000. The Rhine's source is at 2340m height in the mountains and flows into the North Sea at Rotterdam in a large delta at, well, zero, or sea level.

 

The highest water level at Düsseldorf, recorded since 1880, was at 11.10m on 2 January 1926. Currently the water level is at 3.28m. It has been as low as 40cms.

 

Happy sailing everyone.

 

notamermaid

 

I read that Nile River is the longest river of the world with Length: 6,853km (4,258 miles). Is it true?

[notamermaid]

Hello CILCIANRQTS,

 

Viking lists it's longship draft requirement as 1.6m, although some say 1.5 - 2.0 meters is the range.

Current level at Koblenz of 67cm is less than HALF these levels.

It sure seems like we'll be seeing bus tours if the level gets any lower. We're on the Rhine in 2 weeks.

Am I missing something???

Thanks.

 

I would like to refer you to my post #316 where I explained a bit about the navigation channel. Currently we have the situation that what has in German been given the term GlW (abbreviated) has been reached or the water level is even below that. It means that the depth of the navigation channel is not guaranteed anymore. This then means in the stretch where the navigation channel is the lowest river cruise ships can get real problems with sailing, barges with an often deeper draft (three metres) when loaded are impacted much earlier.

 

It is likely to cause an incident to get out of the navigation channel and a barge got stuck that way a few days ago.

 

Latest news to follow later.

 

notamermaid

Edited October 13, 2016 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

I read that Nile River is the longest river of the world with Length: 6,853km (4,258 miles). Is it true?

 

I guess it depends on how you count, as the German wikipedia gives first place to the Nile and the English wikipedia site gives the Amazon.

 

In both lists you will find the mighty Rhine quite a way down, it pales compared to the big boys!

 

notamermaid

[notamermaid]

With the low water levels take make the navigation channel also narrower and the increasing river traffic as two to three ships load what normally one can, there are more incindents of ships running aground.

 

Reports from Duisburg say that they had three incidents last week, one per month is normal.

 

Currently there are three ships - one and two travelling tied as one - stuck near Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Getting them out of the sandbanks is not proving easy. Luckily there are no reports of them obstructing the channel for other ships.

 

Here is a photo of one of them: http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.bei-mannheim-schiffe-laufen-auf-dem-rhein-auf-grund.1d31e8dc-0312-4473-a657-66c112ace870.html

 

Here is the dreaded bit: Worms is at 53cm, Koblenz at 64cm.

 

notamermaid

[CILCIANRQTS]

Thank you, notamermaid..

 

Doing my rain dance now...

[CILCIANRQTS]

This is very serious!

 

https://www.thelocal.de/20161013/low-water-levels-on-rhine-river-causing-ships-to-run-aground

[notamermaid]

Thank you for the article, it is a word for word translation of an article (same source - dpa) I read earlier this morning.

 

Good thing about that area downstream from Cologne is the fact that the navigation channel is deeper than in the Rhine gorge. Upstream from Koblenz around the kilometre mark 500 is where the problems are more likely to be.

 

Viking managed that quite well last year with ship swaps and using a local service to take passengers through the Rhine gorge. A poster reported about this around end of ocotber last year (see last year's thread). I remember reading that Arosa missed some ports. There were few reports of problems with shorter ships. A couple of inches of draught can make all the difference.

 

I apologize for the muddled up sentence in post #366. It should have read: With the low water levels that make the navigation channel also narrower and the increasing river traffic as two to three ships load what normally one can, there are more incidents of ships running aground.

 

Update on the report in that post says that the (double) barge has been freed, but the one barge is still stuck. Apparently the all-French crew did not understand the verbal warnings given over the (river) radio system.

 

notamermaid

[tstr]

Is the Moselle also impacted by this?

 

I am leaving in 2 weeks on a Moselle/Rhine cruise.

 

Thanks, for all of your help!!!!!!

[notamermaid]

The Moselle is low which affects the barges, they sail at half-load or less, just like on the Rhine. But the locks ease the problem here a little. If there are any problems they are likely to be near Luxembourg or in France. I would not worry too much about the Moselle. Remember, barges can have a draught of three metres, more than any river cruise ship. That is what people are worried about, getting oil or coal delivered. Quite literally, last year Switzerland was worried about oil deliveries as the barges could not get the amounts needed up to Basel.

 

While I am here: Worms is at 55cm, Koblenz at 65cm.

 

notamermaid

Edited October 13, 2016 by notamermaid
additional information

[tstr]

Thank you that certainly helps.

 

Will hope for rain so portion on Rhine to Amsterdam is not impacted.

[ParrotheadG]

We got through the middle Rhine without problem. Unfortunately , it was the one day where we had wind and misty weather with cool temps. We were the only ones on deck- everyone else just ran out from inside to take pics when we passed castles. We had on lots of layers...hats, gloves, fleece, scarves...for those still coming through, pack lots of layers!!

 

 

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[tstr]

thanks parrothead my wife just asked me about the weather and I figured layering was the way to go.

[notamermaid]

Hello ParrotheadG,

 

good to hear from you with the excellent news. Layers it is for next week, this weekend will see a short rise in temperatures. Still, on the river it could be windy. Drawback of the mild weather is the fact that it will hardly rain which is predicted to cause another slight fall in river levels.

 

Yesterday, the ferry owner at Niederheimbach in the Rhine gorge said in the local news that he will probably have to stop his service at the weekend as the water level is getting to low to operate the ferry. His opinion is that it will need three days of substantial rain in the Upper Rhine valley to get the situation back to normal (he means about 150 to 200km further upstream from where he operates his ferry).

 

The French ship is still stuck near Mannheim.

 

Worms is at 50cm this morning, Koblenz at 66cm.

 

notamermaid